Midway through 1st marathon training check-in (Read 425 times)

I got such helpful advice when I started this, I thought I'd check in.  It's going well.  I thought I'd run off the rails at one point, with some pretty substantial pain in the hamstring and/or ITB, but massage and a lot of stretching and foam rolling seems to have worked out those kinks.  I wouldn't put it past my leg to blow up again, but hopefully I'll keep it just on the edge of functional. 

 

Biggest question:   the "marathon pace" runs.  I've targeted 9:40 as my "marathon pace"  for a sub-4:15 finish.  I've been doing midweek runs aiming for eight miles at that pace.  The point is to get used to running that pace, right?  First problem was that I had a hard time not running too fast.  I'd tell myself to run "comfortably hard," and then next time I looked at the Garmin I'd be cruising along at 9:10-9:20.  Yikes! I'd say, and slow down, then next time I looked, I'd be at 10:10.  I now seem to be doing a better job at holding around 9:40 . . . so I guess that's good. 

 

But, this has me thinking ahead to actual race day running (which maybe I shouldn't be doing, but bear with me.  When in the race am I trying to run 9:40?  After mile 4 or so?  And then pick it up at the end assuming I've got some energy to make up for those slower early miles?  I have to say it's really daunting to think of doing that many miles at my marathon pace.  I did almost 17 miles on Saturday, and that went really well, I felt good at the end.  But I'd also taken it really slow.  It's hard to think of doing 26.2 miles at 9:40!  I do have confidence in race day energy, and it's worked for me before, but never at that distance, obviously. 

 

Perhaps related question:  I've got a half marathon this Sunday.  I do want to race it hard -- probably the 17 mile run this weekend isn't entirely consistent with that, but that's what you get in marathon training, right?  Should I do my regular mid-week marathon pace run, though?  I did a slightly longer/harder (cause of hills) run this morning than I would normally do on a Monday, because the holiday let me.  I could just do easy the rest of the week?  Or maybe 8  miles easy with striders on Wednesday?  I'm worried that I'm going to really notice that I haven't been doing any faster tempo work than the MP runs.  I know it's too late to fix that, and I'm happy that I've prioritized my marathon training/mileage building over speedwork, but I'm wondering where it's going to leave me for a race effort HM. 

 

Thanks for any advice! 

Yeah, I am leaning toward skipping the MP race this Wednesday (which does always include a warm-up and cool-down).  But my current HM PR is at 9:03 pace, so I won't be holding myself to anything like 9:30.